Online insurance in Europe reached more than 100 billion EUR in 2016

Online and direct channels are the fastest growing business models in both life and non-life insurance industry in Europe. The market share of the online/direct channel business was, in 2015, 8.2% of the total business, while the total gross written premiums of this channel throughout all Europe reached 99.3 billion EUR.

In 2016, for the first time, the total GWP has reached more than 100 billion EUR, according to "Online Insurance Trends: Europe & Country Reports", a University of Vienna & Mount Onyx study, submitted exclusively for both online and print PRIMM publications.

The research includes all 440 insurers' online channels and 260 major aggregators and top Insurtechs from Romania and other 30 European countries.

Thus, the level of maturity and market shares of the online insurance business in relation to the total business differ substantially across Europe: "Mature countries" with a market share of more than 12%, such as the UK, "developing countries" with a market share between 2.0 and 11.9%, such as Spain, and "emerging countries" with a market share of 1.9% and below, such as Russia. Between 2000 and 2015, online channels in Europe have shown significantly higher annual growth rates than the total insurance market. In 13 major European insurance markets, direct channels grew with an average annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22% per country versus the total market rate of 5%.

According to the study, the direct channel market was covered in Europe, in 2016, by 439 insurers with online channels, 214 major aggregators and 47 top insurtechs. Insurers' online channels are either international online channel players, with a presence in more than one European country, or pure national players, active solely in their home market. In 2016, out of 14.2 players per country in Europe, on average 9.5 online channels of insurers are international online channel players, while 4.6 players per country are purely national players. Furthermore, the online channels are implemented as hybrid (58.5%), passive (25.1%) or active business models (16.4%).

In 2017 all natural disasters cost USD 353 billion, with insurance
industry in position to handle high volume of claims payouts and explore
future growth to build resilience in underinsured regions, says Aon.

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business interruption ranks as top threat for companies globally,
according to 1,900+ risk experts from 80 countries, the latest Allianz
Risk Barometer shows. On the other hand, while the economic state of the
global economy seems to arouse less concern, the strong wave of Nat Cat
events brought by the second half of 2017 has placed once again natural
catastrophes and climate change up on the risk agenda.

In a recently published report S&P Global Ratings said that operating conditions for Russian reinsurers have become considerably more complex over the past few years In the agency's view, the market has become more concentrated, in part because of an increase in minimal capital requirements since 2012. The Russian reinsurance market lacks internal capacity and remains heavily dependent on reinsurance protection from developed markets.

Many life insurers are focused on enhancing the value of existing
business by delivering sustainable value for consumers in order to grow
long-term profitability, Swiss Re Institute's latest sigma report shows.

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The global commercial insurance market was worth about USD 720 billion
in premiums in 2016. The 10 largest markets mirror the world's biggest
economies, and account for 73% of global commercial premiums. They
include the leading industrialised countries of the G7 group, China,
Australia and South Korea. The latest sigma study "Commercial insurance: innovation to expand the scope of insurability" is about the innovative risk transfer solutions available to cover the ever-evolving range of exposures that companies face.

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"The Russian insurance market is ending a difficult year," Igor ALEKSEEV, Chairman of the Steering Committee of November Business Meetings of Reinsurers, Deputy Head of the Reinsurance Department, INGOSSTRAKH said today in Moscow.

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